It Takes Two
by smi1e
Summary: It takes two people to help him realize what he's been blind to. Oneshot. T&S.


It was the party of the season.

No.

The party of the year.

No, still not right.

It was the party of the century, or so everyone had liked to think.

And he was standing outside alone.

"Ugh!" The school's favourite basketball star cried out in frustration as he grabbed his hair and pulled.

"Stupid. Stupid. Stupid." He complained, smacking his head back against the brick wall as he said each word.

"What happened to us?" He screamed, but his voice was lost as he heard a window break, and music began blaring out.

The troubled teen shrunk to his knees, with his eyes shut tight.

"Why did she have to do this tonight?" He pondered to no one.

"I **loved **her." He said, grabbing his hair again.

"Wait." He said, shaking his head, "Did I?" He asked himself, opening his eyes to stare out at the calm pool.

Moments passed, before he finally spoke again. "Now why couldn't life be like that?" He asked quietly. "It's all calm and peaceful."

He picked up a small stone from the rock garden he had knelt in and threw it softly at it.

"Something could disturb it," He began, watching the ripples the rock had made travel around the pool, "But, it won't stay that way. Soon," He said, watching the ripples slowly disappear, "It will be all okay again."

The boy dropped his face into his hands as the backdoor to the house opened, and people spilled out on the patio.

Their talking seemed so loud to the boy. He had been outside for more than an hour, just talking to himself, and asking himself what had gone wrong with his relationship with Gabriella.

Had it been because he wasn't into all the _lovey-dovey _stuff every other couple at school seemed to be into? Or because he too focused on playing basketball?

But, as the patio became crowded, and people started jumping into the pool, the logical reason popped into his head.

It was because he was afraid.

Afraid to tell Gabriella his feelings.

Afraid to admit them to himself.

No matter how many times she had told him how much she cared for him, how much she _loved _him, he could never say it back.

And now, as some of the water from the pool sprayed him, he couldn't understand why.

Sure, he liked her.

He liked her a lot. But not enough to say those three words.

Those three words were so definite.

Like, if he had said them to her, they would have been a couple. Forever.

Unless he wanted to be cruel and tell her he _fell out _of love with her

She'd cry, and she'd tell her best friend. Who would, in turn tell her boyfriend. And he would tell the basketball team. And in a day's time, the whole school would know, and he'd be hated.

But he really didn't care.

His thoughts were thrown carelessly around his head, and he couldn't think straight.

Did he really like her enough to love her? Or was the reason he couldn't say those three words that he really didn't feel that for her?

All he could do was stare unseeingly at this one spike of grass.

Until his best friend bothered him.

"Troy, dude. What are you doing out here!" Chad asked, walking over to him.

When Troy didn't look up, Chad cocked his head to the side and shook his shoulder.

"Dude?" Troy looked up at him and stared at him blankly.

"Man, Taylor told me what happened." Chad said, removing his hand from Troy's shoulder while crouching down beside him.

"I'm sorry." He said.

"Yeah." Was all Troy could say.

"I know you could never say it to her, but did you love her?" Chad asked, shifting uncomfortably on the rocky ground.

"Dude, I really don't know." Troy said finally speaking. He picked up another rock and turned it over and over in his hand. "Sometimes I would feel something, you know? But then, the next second it would be gone. But I can't remember the last time that happened."

"I would try and say I know how you feel, but I really don't." Chad said, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

Troy rubbed his hands over his face, and Chad stared at all the people in the pool.

Neither of them spoke for a little while, before Troy broke the silence. "It was perfect, you know?"

Chad looked up, questioningly at his friend, not allowing himself to ask what his best friend was talking about.

"We won the championships again tonight. And she was there, cheering for us. For me." Troy said, chucking the stone he had been holding at the fence. It banged off and fell a few feet away from it.

"And after you shot the winning basket everyone came running onto the floor. And instead of running to congratulate you, she ran to me. Me.

"The guy who never even scored one basket.

"Not even **one **man. You know how bad I looked? I'm the captain. I'm supposed to at least score one. But I didn't. And she didn't even care." Troy said.

Chad just stared at his best friend. He had never heard him speak like this. It was like someone had taken Troy's brain and switched it with someone else's.

Sure, maybe it was true. But Troy helped the team out too. But Chad couldn't help but notice, the whole time during the game that Troy would glance out every so often and look at a specific spot in the bleachers. And Chad knew for a fact that he wasn't looking at Gabriella.

"She ran to be, and gave me a kiss. She said I had played great. And I even knew I hadn't. I had tried to act normally around her, but I couldn't. I really couldn't. I haven't been paying attention lately. Have you noticed?" Troy asked, glancing at his best friend for the first time.

Chad tried to think if he had, and small tidbits of the last few weeks came into his mind. He nodded slowly, and Troy continued.

"I don't know when it happened; maybe last month or maybe the month before that. Or maybe it started the day Ms. Darbus gave us the creative writing assignment. I don't just. But, I started noticing new things.

"Like how Shakespeare was actually a really cool guy.

"And how fast someone can write a song, they inspiration from everything.

"The sun.

"The moon.

"The flowers.

"They could probably even get it from this rock!" Troy said, grabbing another rock and shoving it in Chad's face.

Chad couldn't help but stare at his friend's transformation. Only minutes ago, he was sitting there with his head in his hands looking hurt, but now he was alive, there was a spark shining in his eyes and he looked so…so different.

"I learned so much from that project. After we had to hand it in, everywhere I went I wanted to write something. Stories, a song, even a poem! Everything and everyone I saw gave me inspiration.

"It was crazy. I had so many little pieces of paper in my locker, in my room. There was hardly a surface in my room without some piece of paper with little tidbits of random thoughts on it." Troy explained. He opened his mouth to add something else, but he couldn't find the right words.

Chad stared at Troy, gaping at him. "Dude. What happened to you!" he cried.

Troy looked at his friend, sighing. Maybe he could help him figure out his thoughts?

"Well." Troy started, pulling out some stems of grass and twirling them with his fingers. "Remember how Ms. Darbus made us partner up?"

"Yeah." Chad answered, not understanding where Troy was coming from.

"Do you remember who she paired me with?" Troy asked, letting go of the grass and watching it fall softly to the ground.

Chad thought for a moment before uttering one word. "Sharpay."

Troy nodded his head before staring at the kids in the pool.

The music was still blaring, and the people were still talking at an alarming high volume, but everything seemed to be lowered in Troy's perspective.

The only things he could hear clearly was the birds chirping, and the owls hooting and Chad's answers.

"She did this to you?" Chad asked, horrified. "How? When? We need to get you to a doctor!"

"Dude, chill." Troy said a faint grin sliding onto his face. "I'm fine. I actually like it."

"You're talking crazy." Chad answered his head shaking back and forth, and his eyes were wide.

"No man. I really like it. I never knew you could experience the world this way. It's so…I can't exactly find a word to describe it. Liberating maybe? Free? I don't know. But everything seems so much brighter, and everyone seems so much happier."

Chad's head had stopped shaking, but his eyes were still wide, but for a whole new reason. "You like Sharpay." He breathed.

The small pebble Troy had been playing with dropped out of his hand and it fell to the ground silently. His head moved towards Chad and he just looked at him.

"Is that really what's happened?" Troy asked, pleading Chad to give him an answer.

Chad looked away from Troy's stare and looked out at the sea of people. At the edge of the pool he saw his girlfriend Taylor, and Gabriella.

Taylor gave him a questioning smile, and Chad felt a flutter in his stomach as he tried to force one back.

"Chad?" Troy asked, and Chad could hear the pleading tone in his voice.

Chad tore his eyes away from Taylor, and looked at his best friend.

"Uh," He started, trying to figure out how to help Troy.

"What's it like?" Troy asked suddenly, the pleading and begging tone gone from his voice. The last question he had been waiting to be answered disappeared as a new one set in.

"What is what like?" Chad asked.

"You and Taylor. You guys are perfect for each other." Troy said.

"Us? Perfect?" Chad laughed. "We're far from it. It's hard dude. It's really hard. But that's what makes it all worth while."

Troy nodded looking at the ground. "I guess that was what was wrong." He said.

"What?" Chad asked.

"What was wrong." Troy stated. "With me and Gabriella. It was always so easy. If I was late for a date, she'd forgive me in a second. If I forgot our study dates, she'd never yell at me. It was too easy.

"When we were doing the project, if I was even a few minutes late, Sharpay would be on me. Complaining how she had already started and done so much while I dilly-dawdled on the way to the library. When, in reality she had only gotten there moments before herself. If I had forgotten a day when we had to work together, she wouldn't talk to me for at least _three. _It was so challenging.

"But it still made me want to leave my dates with Gabriella early to get started on the project. But then it also wanted me to stay later, just to see her get riled up when I arrived late. I loved it." Troy said.

Chad nodded, not really sure of why he was. "And when we were doing the project, she'd always state something about how much she hated me, or how bad I was at basketball. She'd give me tips on what to do, and when I used them in the games, I would see her in the stands shaking her head at me.

"It was weird. But I after the project was over and we stopped working together, I felt the world slow down every time I saw her. And when she would notice I'd look away quickly but when I looked back, I'd always see her smiling at me."

Troy shook his head furiously, before shoving it in his palms once again.

Chad cracked a smile. "Dude, you love her." And the smile disappeared as the words he had just uttered reach his ears. His eyes widened as he watched his friends head shoot up from his hands.

"What?" Troy asked, horrified.

"You heard what I said." Chad answered.

Troy stared out at the tree tops that could be seen from where he was sitting and asked himself, Did he really love Sharpay Evans?

Minute, after minute passed and neither friend uttered a word.

"What I don't understand," Chad began making Troy's eyes shoot to his friend. "Is why you seemed so heartbroken when Gabriella dropped the bomb?"

"I thought you said Taylor told you." Troy said suspiciously.

Chad's eyes darted left to right, "That's what she told me."

"Sure." Troy said.

"Okay," Chad admitted, "I came back to see what was taking you guys so long and I heard her. But you never answered my question."

"I don't know. I know I had been distant and I never really talked to her, but it hurt, you know?" Troy stated. "I had liked her so much last year after we sang at the New Years party and I liked her this year too. It's just, I never really liked a girl that much-"

"Until Sharpay." Chad cut in.

"Yeah, but I never even noticed this coming." Troy sighed, and shook his head.

"Troy." Chad said.

"Yeah?" Troy asked looking at his friend.

"Go see her." Chad said, getting up, and wiping his back.

"Gabriella?" Troy asked.

"No. Sharpay." Chad said before beginning to leave.

"But she didn't come." Troy said, making Chad stop.

"You know as well as I do she's always in the park." Chad stated with a smile before making his way over to Taylor.

Troy stood there for a moment, watching them. Chad smiled down at his girlfriend before sitting beside her. They shared a short kiss and they started talking. Taylor looked up at Troy briefly, giving him a small smile. He returned it, before turning to leave.

The park was only a few streets away from where the party was and Troy made it there in less then ten minutes.

Over and over again in his head, he wished she was still there. It had to be close to one in the morning, and he wasn't sure how long she stayed there for.

Troy never really knew when he found out she was there every night. He could only remember him and Chad walking past it to countless parties and seeing her sitting on the swings staring out at the ground.

He reached the sign that read _Birch Park, _and he stopped his eyes searching every corner of the park. The familiar blonde head he had been looking at the past few weeks was no where in sight. He was about to give up hope when he saw a movement on the castle.

A grin slide on his face, as he began walking towards it. But he found walking too slow so he began jogging, but that was to slow too. Soon, he broke out into a full out sprint and even after he reached the castle, he ran up the stairs until he reached the top.

He hadn't been on the castle since seventh grade. He forgot how high it actually was until he was at the top.

The loud movement of his running must have startled her, because once he reached her, she had already sat up and was staring at him in confusion.

"Troy?" She asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I needed to tell you something." He stated, sinking down to the step.

"What about the party?" She asked him.

"Who cares?" He said moving towards her.

"Whoa, there." She said. "Troy, what are you doing?"

"Something I should have done a long time ago." He said, his arms reaching out to her waist.

Her eyes were wide and filled with confusion as his arms wrapped around her middle and began pulling her towards him.

"Troy?" She asked again, her voice quivering.

But he didn't answer instead he lowered his head towards hers and caught her lips in a kiss.

The instant their lips first met, there was a flicker of something. It was almost electrical, and it made both of them believe that it could last forever.

But as every good thing begins, it has to end at one point.

Sharpay pulled away with her eyes wide with shock. "What are you doing?"

Troy swallowed, "Kissing you?"

Sharpay looked away, "But you're with Gabriella."

"No." Troy said, lifting a hand to turn Sharpay's face back so she was looking at him. "She broke up with me after the championship game finished.

"How tacky." Sharpay started, "Just because you were the worst player on the team."

Troy smiled, "You know I'm the best."

"No actually, I don't." Sharpay said, grinning herself, "Not with the game you played tonight."

"You're mistaken." Troy said, leaving Sharpay confused. "It was the game I played yesterday. It's Sunday now."

Sharpay shook her head still grinning at him.

"So." Troy said, looking at her expectantly.

"So what?" Sharpay asked.

"Am I allowed to kiss you again?" He asked.

"I don't know." She said, looking around. "That depends."

"On what?" Troy asked her.

Sharpay moved out of his grip and started crawling backwards. "If you can catch me!" And with a stunning smile, she slid down the slide.

"Oh it's on!" Troy called, sliding down after her.

Once he reached the bottom she saw that she had already made her way past the pond and she was running towards the swings. Troy could hear her laughter, even though she was so much farther in front of him.

He sped up and in minutes, he had caught her around the waist and was spinning her around. Her laughter grew until tears were streaming down her face.

He set her on the ground gently, and looked in her eyes. "Do I get that kiss now?" He asked.

"That depends." She answered, with a sparkle in her eye.

"On what?" He asked.

"If you promise me something." She said.

"Anything." He replied.

"Never make the feeling go away." She said.

"I promise." Troy replied, leaning down.

"Cross your heart?" She asked when there lips were barely touching.

"Cross my heart." He replied, and moved his lips the last distance.

Troy felt his heart leap, and the feeling didn't go away.

His thoughts finally settled, but then they disappeared.

Because really, who would want to think of anything at a time like this?

--

Holy man! I'm so proud. I wrote a long story. Go me. Go me. Go, go, go me. My first _long _one-shot.

I was trying to find some You, Me and Dupree fan fiction because I like Molly and Dupree together, but I couldn't find any. But then, I was looking at some quotes I had saved. And the first one caught my eye. And I just had to run with it. I'm not sure how long this took me to write. An hour? Maybe ninety minutes? But I love it. It was really annoying me how I'd started with Troy being mad because Gabriella dumped him, and how he said he loved her, because it was starting to sound like a Troyella. Now, I have nothing against that, its just that I like Troy and Sharpay together. So, I had to change it. And it is way longer than I expected. And way different. But, I think it's pretty good. Agree? Disagree? I'd love to know! Please review.

Oh! And I'm always telling myself this but I always forget. I'd like to thank all the reviewers who have reviewed my other stories! You guys are great.


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